1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device using a thin film transistor at least in a pixel portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, techniques to form thin film transistors using, for a channel formation region, a semiconductor thin film (with a thickness of approximately several tens to several hundreds of nanometers) which is formed over a substrate having an insulating surface have attracted attention. Thin film transistors are widely used in electronic devices such as ICs and electro-optical devices, and their development especially as switching elements for image display devices has been accelerated.
As a switching element of an image display device, a thin film transistor using an amorphous semiconductor film for a channel formation region, a thin film transistor using a polycrystalline semiconductor film for a channel formation region, and the like are known. As a method of forming a polycrystalline semiconductor film, there is known a technique in which a pulsed excimer laser beam is shaped into a linear laser beam by an optical system and an amorphous silicon film is crystallized by being irradiated while being scanned with the linear laser beam.
As a switching element of an image display device, a thin film transistor using a microcrystalline semiconductor film for a channel formation region is also used (see References 1 and 2).    [Reference 1] Japanese Published Patent Application No. H4-242724    [Reference 2] Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2005-49832